PASS THE URN DAY

Pass the Urn Day 

You will receive a letter every year on the Saturday after the anniversary of my funeral or close to it. Yes, my funeral. Not my death. Funerals are ridiculous, so it is fitting you get the letter on that day. It would be awesome if you could gather as a family to pass me along. Try to gather on a weekend when you have time to be together, to talk, listen to each other. Celebrate your lives. And listen to my words of wisdom and/or full-of-shit thoughts. I love gatherings. Laugh today. I would if I could. Actually, I’m confident I’m looking down at all of you and smiling. Yours for eternity, Mom/Mama

When Bessa found out she would not survive pancreatic cancer, she knew her three adult children weren’t ready to lose her. To help them move on, Bessa enlisted a secret accomplice to send letters to her children around the anniversary of her funeral. She also had her ashes placed in a purple kaleidoscope urn and requested her kids take turns spending time with her. Outlandish or not, a mother needs to do what a mother needs to do.

Full of laughter, love and chaos, the Larsen family spends ten years receiving letters from their mother and passing the urn from house to house, country to country—with occasional mishaps.